Protests erupted at Mumbai’s Sion Hospital on Sunday, September 13, after the body of a 28-year-old accident victim was handed over to the wrong family and later cremated.

Ankush Sarvade, a resident of Dharavi, was admitted to the hospital on August 28 after he was injured in an accident on the Eastern Freeway. Following a head injury, he was soon operated on by the doctors at the hospital, Sarvade’s family said.

According to a report by The Indian Express, on Saturday, the hospital informed Sarvade’s relative, Sanjana Chavan, that the patient’s health had deteriorated.

‘When we went to the hospital around 7.30 am, we were told that my brother had passed away,’ Chavan was quoted as saying by the media.

After his demise, Sarvade’s body was sent for postmortem examination. When his family went to collect the body at the mortuary on Sunday evening, they were shown the body of an older man.

‘The body was of a man in his 50s. When we asked for Ankush’s body, hospital authorities told us that it was missing. After some time, we were told that the body was mistakenly given to another family and has already been cremated,’ Chavan said.

Meanwhile, Dr Mohan Joshi, dean of Sion hospital, late on Sunday said that two employees of the mortuary were suspended and an inquiry will be initiated against them, reported Hindustan Times.

In an official report on the incident, Joshi stated that additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani, who is also in-charge of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) public health department, had given the orders for suspension and subsequent inquiry over phone.

‘How can the hospital hand over a body to some other family instead to the blood relatives of the deceased? We will meet the BMC commissioner on Monday and demand an inquiry into the functioning of the hospital,’ said Sion Koliwada MLA Tamil Selvan. The deceased’s family had approached the MLA for help.

Also Read: UP: Missing COVID Patient’s Body Found Near Hospital’s Sewer, Family Alleges Son Killed For Kidney